Job Burnout

Job Burnout

Reviewed by Reja Batool

In work psychology, a work-related pattern of exhaustion and disengagement, measured by questionnaire.

What it is

It is a description of how people relate to their jobs, not a diagnosis. In four occupational samples totalling 1,698 people it was mainly predicted by job demands and a lack of job resources, and it shared about one tenth of its variation with work engagement.

In effect

The article on why burnout hit people who like their jobs uses it to separate enjoying a job from coping with its load.

What it does not say

It is a description of how people relate to their jobs, measured by questionnaire, and not a diagnosis. The samples were occupational groups, so the figures do not set how common it is in any one workplace.

Sources

  1. Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499-512.
  2. Schaufeli, W. B., & Bakker, A. B. (2004). Job demands, job resources, and their relationship with burnout and engagement: A multi-sample study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25(3), 293-315.
  3. Schaufeli, W. B., Taris, T. W., & Van Rhenen, W. (2008). Workaholism, burnout, and work engagement: Three of a kind or three different kinds of employee well-being? Applied Psychology, 57(2), 173-203.
  4. Innanen, H., Tolvanen, A., & Salmela-Aro, K. (2014). Burnout, work engagement and workaholism among highly educated employees: Profiles, antecedents and outcomes. Burnout Research, 1(1), 38-49.